Schacksnack

The Women’s World Chess Championship match between defending champion Ju Wenjun and challenger Lei Tingjie is held in Shanghai and Chongqing, China, from 5-24 July, 2023. Don’t miss this epic battle with a prize fund of €500,000.

Commentators are Grandmasters Alik Gershon and Xu Yi.

#FIDEchess #WomenInChess #WomenChessMatch

The 2023 Women’s Chess World Championship sees defending World Champion Ju Wenjun face challenger Lei Tingjie in a 12-game, €500,000 title match in Shanghai and Chongqing, China. Jennifer Shahade and Jovanka Houska commentate.

The Women’s World Chess Championship match between defending champion Ju Wenjun and challenger Lei Tingjie is held in Shanghai and Chongqing, China, from 5-24 July, 2023. Don’t miss this epic battle with a prize fund of €500,000.

Commentators are Grandmasters Alik Gershon and Xu Yi.

#FIDEchess#WomenInChess#WomenChessMatchFIDE chess

The 2023 Women’s Chess World Championship sees defending World Champion Ju Wenjun face challenger Lei Tingjie in a 12-game, €500,000 title match in Shanghai and Chongqing, China. Jennifer Shahade and Jovanka Houska commentate.

The Women’s World Chess Championship match between defending champion Ju Wenjun and challenger Lei Tingjie is held in Shanghai and Chongqing, China, from 5-24 July, 2023. Don’t miss this epic battle with a prize fund of €500,000.

Commentators are Grandmasters Alik Gershon and Xu Yi.

#FIDEchess #WomenInChess #WomenChessMatch

The 2023 Women’s World Chess Championship sees defending World Champion Ju Wenjun face challenger Lei Tingjie in a 12-game, €500,000 title match in Shanghai and Chongqing, China. Alexandra Kosteniuk and Jovanka Houska commentate.

The Women’s World Chess Championship match between defending champion Ju Wenjun and challenger Lei Tingjie is held in Shanghai and Chongqing, China, from 5-24 July, 2023. Don’t miss this epic battle with a prize fund of €500,000.

Commentators are Grandmasters Alik Gershon and Xu Yi.

#FIDEchess #WomenInChess #WomenChessMatch

The 2023 Women’s Chess World Championship sees defending World Champion Ju Wenjun face challenger Lei Tingjie in a 12-game, €500,000 title match in Shanghai and Chongqing, China. Judit Polgar and Jovanka Houska commentate.

The 2023 Women’s Chess World Championship sees defending World Champion Ju Wenjun face challenger Lei Tingjie in a 12-game, €500,000 title match in Shanghai and Chongqing, China. Judit Polgar and Jovanka Houska commentate.

The Women’s World Chess Championship match between defending champion Ju Wenjun and challenger Lei Tingjie is held in Shanghai and Chongqing, China, from 5-24 July, 2023. Don’t miss this epic battle with a prize fund of €500,000.

Commentators are Grandmasters Alik Gershon and Xu Yi.

#FIDEchess #WomenInChess #WomenChessMatch

The 2023 Women’s World Chess Championship sees defending World Champion Ju Wenjun face challenger Lei Tingjie in a 12-game, €500,000 title match in Shanghai and Chongqing, China. Judit Polgar and Jovanka Houska commentate.

Most people consider Bronstein’s tournament book from 1953 to be the world’s best tournament book, but now another indispensable tournament book has been released in an English translation that can definitely compete with Bronstein’s. The one we are referring to is Keres’ book about the 1948 World Championship tournament. So, what does it mean for a tournament book to be of high quality? The perfect tournament book is the one that increases your playing strength when you go through the games. It should be pedagogical. Bronstein’s book was like that, and so is Keres’. From my own experience, I realized the value of centralizing the queen when I came across Bronstein’s classic. What he conveys cannot be found in any other book. I was so impressed by his ideas that I even managed to trap my queen in a game against Peter Backe in the Swedish Championship in Lindesberg in 1993. I later repeated this ”impossible” feat in a game against Bengt Lindberg in a weekend tournament in Västerås 2012.

Keres, among other things, implicitly conveys how to play correctly with the rooks. Naturally, these great players/authors provide many other insightful and pedagogical comments, so the general message is that the ambitious player should go through all the games at a moderate pace while assimilating the comments. It may be wise to underline the instructive comments to counteract the treacherous pitfalls of forgetfulness. After finishing the book, one can focus on the underlined parts. Since no book is tailor-made, you can make it so yourself with thoughtful markings, marginal notes, or underlines. It is wrong, as many people think, to believe that you shouldn’t write in a book because it makes it used. In fact, this method is the most convenient way to become a better chess player. Not only do you improve as a chess player by reading the book, but you also absorb the way chess was played at that time, as a natural meeting between generations occurs. Lastly, there is an entertaining aspect to enjoying this book, which ultimately makes chess training truly enjoyable. Who can resist such an almost perfect book?

The primary purpose of this tournament was to determine a new world champion since Alekhine tragically passed away as the world champion in 1946. The World Championship tournament took place two years later, before the King’s Indian and Sicilian revolution had come into effect. If one is interested in such games, the Zurich International Chess Tournament, 1953 should primarily be studied to gain background knowledge and an increased understanding of these complex systems. In Keres’ tournament book, there is only one King’s Indian and one Sicilian game. The dominant opening is the Spanish game. Therefore, it is an excellent book for e4 players and for black players who play classically. Keres’ comments are exceptionally pedagogical even in the opening, with many enriching textual explanations. The yellow highlighter will run out many times for those who are not too familiar with the open games or who want to switch to a solid system. The second most popular opening is the Grünfeld, so there is plenty of material even for the aggressive and dynamic black player like Grandelius.

We owe our gratitude to Jan Verendel for making it possible to finally (better late than never!) read the book in English. He created the ideal conditions for it and published it through his own Verendel Publishing. He put a lot of effort into the book for several years and was very pleased that it managed to be published in the magical year 2016, the year when Keres would have turned 100.

Verendel got the idea to translate the book when he heard that Kasparov and Gelfand had mentioned this book as one of the very best. In fact, Kasparov even claimed that this is one of the three best books in world literature. What are the other two? My System and ?. If there is one thing Kasparov is known for among the initiated, it is that he does not sprinkle praise unnecessarily. Verendel realized that this classic had been completely forgotten as it was only available in Russian or Estonian. He managed to find the book at a bookstore in Estonia and then translated it from Estonian during his spare time, which took four years. This also included other tasks such as contacting Keres’ family to buy the rights. GM John Shaw was contacted and became the language editor, as well as IM Ari Ziegler, responsible for layout and international distribution. The book sold about 600 copies in the first month, indicating that it will be a great success. The book can be purchased from Schackkompaniet for 275 SEK, which is a steal in this context. At the time of writing, there are 32 copies left, so take the opportunity before it’s too late. I know from my own experience that really good chess literature runs out too quickly, and then one is left to compete with chess collectors in auctions, where they drive up the prices even higher than the original price. The book is hardcover with a substantial content spread over 500 pages. It is an excellent book to have next to the chessboard in your study, and you can treat yourself to playing through one game five days a week. It would only take ten weeks to go through this brick since it contains 50 very well-commented games with giants like Botvinnik, Euwe, Fine, Keres, Smyslov, and Reshevsky. Each cycle consists of five rounds with 10 games, and Mr. Free round naturally reduced the number of games, but on the other hand, this provided a much-needed rest day for the players to create the best possible quality chess. Therefore, there was no need for quick draws as in our days with double rounds and tight schedules.

Any chess player or chess enthusiast who misses out on this book is making a mistake that they will probably regret for the rest of their chess life. Here is a little teaser for those who are considering not buying the book to show what potential non-buyers will miss out on.

Mikhail Botvinnik – Max Euwe
World Chess Championship (4), 04.03.1948
[Keres]

How does White continue?

12.Rae1 White places his rooks in attacking positions, where they will later support the advance of the e- and f-pawns. For this reason, it is clear that the queen’s rook had to be played to e1, and not the king’s rook, which will later be needed on the f-file. (en typisk pedagogisk kommentar som boken kryllar av! red. anm.) Although White achieves splendid success with the text-manoeuvre, it is still not the strongest continuation and, on the contrary, gives Black the chance to equalize the position completely. It is apparent that Black’s main strategic plan is the …e5-e4 advance, as the …exd4 exchange would open up the e-file and give White a clear advantage. This advance is however not possible at the moment due to the simple reply Nxe4, as Black’s bishop on a5 is unprotected. Therefore one could expect Black to move the a5-bishop, most naturally to the c7-square. White had to thwart this, and it was possible with the positionally useful retreat 12.Ba2!. Now 12…Bc7 is no longer possible due to the reply 13.Nb5 , and secondly Black has to consider the threat of13.Nd5. If for example12…Bb6, then 13.Rae1! and Black has run out of reasonable moves. It seems that White could have maintained an opening advantage with 12.Ba2!, but the edge gradually vanishes after the hasty text-move.

Thomas Engqvist

The Women’s World Chess Championship match between defending champion Ju Wenjun and challenger Lei Tingjie is held in Shanghai and Chongqing, China, from 5-24 July, 2023. Don’t miss this epic battle with a prize fund of €500,000.

Commentators are Grandmasters Alik Gershon and Xu Yi.

#FIDEchess #WomenInChess #WomenChessMatch

The 2023 Women’s World Chess Championship sees defending World Champion Ju Wenjun face challenger Lei Tingjie in a 12-game, €500,000 title match in Shanghai and Chongqing, China. Alexandra Kosteniuk and Jovanka Houska commentate.

One of the greatest non-world champion chess players of all time is considered to be Akiba (Akiva; Akibah) Rubinstein (1882-1961). He belongs to a group of players like Aron Nimzowitsch, Salo Flohr, Leonid Stein, and Paul Keres who, due to various circumstances, didn’t get the chance to play a World Championship match. In the case of Rubinstein, it was the First World War that definitively disrupted his chess career at the highest level. The failure in St. Petersburg in 1914 also strongly contributed to Rubinstein losing all potential opportunities to challenge the then-World Champion Emanuel Lasker. During this time, Capablanca was considered the primary threat to Lasker, followed by Alekhine.

Rubinstein’s golden years as a chess player were 1907-1912, and according to Chessmetrics.com, his best year was 1913 when he achieved the astonishing rating of 2789 in June. The trend in 1914 shows a decline. After the First World War, Rubinstein was no longer seen as a main contender, and as we know, José Raül Capablanca had the opportunity to face the giant Lasker. However, Rubinstein is counted among the top four players in the world from 1907-1922. Therefore, Rubinstein is worth considering both for entertainment and educational purposes, especially during the period 1907-1912. In the first case, I can recommend the game Gersz Rotlewi – Akiba Rubinstein, Lodz 1907, and in the latter case, Akiba Rubinstein – Carl Schlechter, San Sebastian 1912.

If you want to acquire a book about this chess giant, as he truly was a giant even though he didn’t get to challenge for the World Championship title, he is considered one of the greatest, if not the greatest, when it comes to treating rook endgames. The most well-known book is Rubinstein’s Chess Masterpieces – 100 Selected Games (1941), annotated by Hans Kmoch and translated by Barnie F. Winkelman. This book has been highly recommended by the former World Champion Tigran Petrosian (1963-1969). For the English readership, later published works include volumes such as The Life & Games of Akiba Rubinstein Volume 1: Uncrowned king (2006) and The Life & Games of Akiba Rubinstein Volume 2: The Later Years (2011) by authors John Donaldson and Nikolay Minev. The difference between these books and Kmoch’s book is that the former is based on all the played games of Rubinstein, including recently discovered games from Ostende 1906, while the latter is based on a selection of Rubinstein’s best and most instructive games. There is also another recommended book in English called Akiba Rubinstein’s Chess Academy compiled by Viktor Glatman, with comments by GM V. Chekhov, B. Gelfand, A. Huzman, A. Khalifman, M. Krasenkov, S. Lputian, I. Novikov, E. Pigusov, Y. Razuvaev, and P. Swidler, to name just a few of the great names.

If you want to acquire a book that truly does justice to his stature, one of the most renowned books in the former Soviet Union (before the Commonwealth of Independent States) is Akiba Rubinstein (1980) by Yuri Razuvaev and Valery Murakhver. This book had an excellent reputation and has always been highly recommended by Boris Gelfand, the former challenger to Viswanathan Anand at Moscow in 2012. I remember when I was younger, I lamented the fact that this book was not available in English, but now this hefty book (571 pages), believe it or not, is available in English thanks to the tremendous and diligent work of Jan Verendel, the editor of Verendel Publishing. Another person who deserves mention is the translator, Andrey Deviatkin, who has also provided data analysis in the footnotes. Thanks to Deviatkin’s translation, we can not only enjoy commentary on the selection of games but also delve into highly interesting chapters such as ”In the Footsteps of Steinitz” (Murakhveri), ”Rubinstein and chess theory,” and ”The Endgame” (Razuvaev). Many of you reading this review are surely aware that Verendel previously released a new translation of the hefty book World Chess Championship 1948 (544 pages) with comments by Estonian Grandmaster Paul Keres, also known as ”The eternal second.” This book received great reviews worldwide, and I am convinced that the Rubinstein work will receive similar acclaim. The cover is much more appealing compared to the one for Keres, with the title Akiba Rubinstein written in gold text while he kindly looks at us from another time.

The book has many merits, including a wealth of color photographs. This technique involves adding colors to a black-and-white or tinted photographic image to recreate the original scene’s colors. It is done to provide a more vivid and realistic visual experience of the photographed subject, especially for historical images where color photography was not available at the time the photo was taken. Such photographs can have artistic or historical significance and are often used to add a new dimension to black-and-white or tinted images. To my knowledge, this is the first time in chess book history that such photographs have been presented, making it easier for readers and viewers to step into a bygone era. It is not very common for chess literature to make an effort to find new images, especially ones that have been colorized, so a tremendous amount of effort has gone into the production of this book. I know because I was one of the many who proofread the book. Verendel put so much work into ensuring the best possible proofreading that he even printed ten copies in a stapled form in advance and distributed them to all the proofreaders. So if you manage to find any errors or peculiarities in the text, you can congratulate yourself.

The price of 45 Euros is affordable in my opinion. The best way to purchase the book is directly from Jan Verendel’s website, and for Swedish readers, the postage is 109 SEK. This means that you can get the book delivered to your mailbox for just over 500 SEK, which is a worthwhile investment as Rubinstein has never been presented in such a comprehensive hardcover book before. Unfortunately, many publishers fail to understand the importance of publishing hefty hardcover books. This applies to reputable publishers like New in Chess and Everyman Chess. I believe that chess publishers who release substantial works in the field of chess history have a lot to gain from it, especially if the books also include meticulously produced photographs. Many chess enthusiasts are eagerly awaiting this type of book, but at present, there is essentially only one available, with the exception of the American publisher McFarland.

Thomas Engqvist

En av världens genom tiderna bäste icke-världsmästare anses vara Akiba (Akiva; Akibah) Rubinstein (1882-1961). Han hör till den grupp av spelare lik Aron Nimzowitsch, Salo Flohr, Leonid Stein och Paul Keres som av olika omständigheter inte fick chansen att spela en VM-match. I Rubinsteins fall var det 1:a Världskriget som definitivt spolierade Rubinsteins schackkarriär upp mot den allra högsta olympen. Även misslyckandet i Sankt Petersburg 1914 bidrog starkt till att Rubinstein tappade alla potentiella möjligheter att bli utmanare till den dåvarande världsmästaren Emanuel Lasker. Under denna tid ansågs i första hand Capablanca och i andra hand Alekhine vara de främsta hoten till Lasker.

Rubinsteins gyllene år som schackspelare var 1907-1912 och enligt Chessmetrics.com var hans bästa år 2013 då han uppnådde det hisnande ratingtalet 2789 i juni månad. 2014 visar således en formkurva neråt. Efter 1:a världskriget ansågs inte Rubinstein längre vara någon huvudutmanare och som bekant blev det José Raül Capablanca som fick ta sig an giganten Lasker. Rubinstein räknas dock till de fyra bästa spelarna i världen från 1907-1922. Rubinstein är alltså väl värd att beakta både ur underhållningssynpunkt och ur lärdomssynpunkt, speciellt perioden 1907-1912. I det första fallet kan jag rekommendera partiet Gersz Rotlewi – Akiba Rubinstein, Lodz 1907 och i det sistnämnda fallet Akiba Rubinstein – Carl Schlechter, San Sebastian 1912.

Om man vill införskaffa sig en bok om denna schackgigant, för han var verkligen en gigant även om han inte fick utmana om VM-titeln, han anses exempelvis vara en av de största, om inte den största, när det gäller behandlingen av tornslutspel, då är den mest kända boken för den svenska läsekretsen Rubinstein vinner – Hundra glanspartier av den store schackkonstnären (1947), med kommentarer av Hans Kmoch och biografisk inledning av Laskerkännaren Dr. Jacques Hannak (Översättning av Birger Malmström). Denna bok har varit en stark rekommendation av den före detta världsmästaren Tigran Petrosian (1963-1969). För den engelska läsekretsen finns denna bok också tillgänglig (1941) men senare utgivna alster är volymerna The Life & Games of Akiba Rubinstein Volume 1: Uncrowned king (2006) och The Life & Games of Akiba Rubinstein Volume 2: The Later Years (2011) av författarna John Donaldson och Nikolay Minev. Skillnaden mellan dessa böcker och Kmochs är att de förra bygger på alla spelade partier av Rubinstein, och detta inkluderar nyligen funna partier från Ostende 1906, medan den senare bygger på ett urval av Rubinsteins bästa och mest instruktiva partier. Det finns ytterligare en rekommendabel bok på engelska som heter Akiba Rubinstein’s Chess Academy sammanställd av Viktor Glatman och med kommentarer av GM V. Chekhov, B. Gelfand, A. Huzman, A. Khalifman, M. Krasenkov, S. Lputian, I. Novikov, E. Pigusov, Y. Razuvaev och P. Swidler bara för att nämna några av de största namnen.

Nu har det alltså kommit ut en ny bok som är en nyöversättning av Yuri Razuvaevs och Valery Murakhveris ryska bok Akiba Rubinstein (1980). Denna bok hade ett väldigt gott rykte i dåvarande Sovietunionen (före GUS) och har alltid varit en stark rekommendation av Boris Gelfand, den före detta VM-utmanaren till Viswanathan Anand i Moskva 2012. Jag minns när jag var yngre att jag saknade att denna bok inte fanns på engelska men nu finns denna tegelstensbok (571 s.), hör och häpna, tillgänglig på engelska och detta är tack vare ett gigantiskt och gediget arbete av först och främst idogt flitige Jan Verendel i egenskap av att vara redaktör för sitt bokförlag Verendel Publishing. Ytterligare en person som behöver nämnas är översättaren Andrey Deviatkin och han har även gjort dataanalyser som man kan ta del av i fotnotsapparaten. Tack vare Deviatkins översättning kan vi nu inte bara ta del av kommentarerna till partiurvalet utan också till högintressanta kapitel som exempelvis ”In the footsteps of Steinitz” (Murakhveri), ”Rubinstein and chess theory” och ”The endgame” (Razuvaev). Många av er som läser denna recension är säkert bekanta med att Verendel har gett ut en tidigare nyöversättning av tegelstensboken (544 s.) World Chess Championship 1948 med kommentarer av den estniske stormästaren Paul Keres som också går med benämningen ”Den eviga tvåan.” Denna bok fick goda recensioner världen över och det är jag övertygad om att Rubinstein-alstret också kommer att få. Framsidan är till skillnad från omslaget till Keres mycket tilltalande då man ser att titeln Akiba Rubinstein är skriven i guldtext samtidigt som han vänligt tittar på oss som från en annan tid.

Boken har många förtjänster då den innehåller en mängd kolorerade fotografier. Detta är en teknik där färger läggs till på en svartvit eller tonad fotografisk bild för att återskapa färgerna som skulle ha funnits i den ursprungliga scenen. Detta görs för att ge en mer levande och realistisk visuell upplevelse av det fotograferade motivet, särskilt när det gäller historiska bilder där färgfotografering inte var tillgänglig vid den tidpunkten då fotot togs. Denna typ av fotografier kan vara konstnärliga eller historiska i sin natur och används ofta för att ge en ny dimension till svartvita eller tonade bilder. Mig veterligen är det första gången i schackbokhistorien som sådana fotografier presenteras och detta gör ju att det blir lättare som läsare och betraktare att ta klivet för att få en ingång till svunna tider. Det är inte alltför vanligt med schacklitteratur som bemödar sig att hitta nya bilder och som dessutom har kolorerats så det ligger oerhört mycket ansträngning i produktionen av denna bok. Jag vet eftersom jag var en av de många som korrekturläste boken. Verendel lade ner så mycket arbete på att få så bra korrektur som möjligt att han till och med tryckte tio exemplar i häftade exemplar i förväg och sedan delade ut dessa till alla korrekturläsare. Så om du lyckas hitta några fel eller andra konstigheter i texten är du bara att gratulera.

Priset 45 Euro tycker jag är överkomligt. Det bästa är att köpa boken direkt från Jan Verendels hemsida och för svenska intressenter ligger portot på 109 kr. Detta innebär att man kan få boken i sin brevlåda för lite över en femhundring och det är en god investering eftersom Rubinstein aldrig har presenterats som en diger inbunden bok tidigare. Tyvärr är det många förlag som inte förstår vikten av att ge ut tegelstenar i inbunden form. Det gäller renommerade förlag som New in Chess och Everyman Chess. Jag tror att schackförlag som ger ut digra luntor inom det schackhistoriska området har mycket att vinna på det och om det dessutom är genomarbetade fotografier i boken har förlagen ännu mer att vinna på det. Det är många schackentusiaster som väntar på just denna typ av böcker men nu finns det i princip bara ett med undantag av det amerikanska förlaget McFarland.

Thomas Engqvist